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Bringing the Concept to Life

draft resolution calling upon all States to “enhance international peace, security
and international cooperation in all its aspects in accordance with the Charter
of the United Nations”. Presented on 3 November 1989 for urgent
consideration, resolution A/RES/44/21 was adopted in a plenary meeting on
15 November 1989. This landmark resolution opened the way to an integrated
approach to peace promotion. Specifically, it mentioned the role of the United
Nations “in resolving international problems of a political, economic, social,
cultural or humanitarian character” and referred to the need to “find
multifaceted approaches to implement and strengthen the principles and system
of international peace, security and international cooperation laid down in the
Charter”.

Based on this new all-encompassing method, the United Nations was able
to embark upon a more assertive and ambitious approach to peace promotion.
This period was characterized by greater activism and success in traditional
peace operations. Brian Urquhart, in an essay on the UN after the Cold War,
recalls the initial successes of this new strategy:

“The Iran-Iraq was came to an end in August 1988 on the basis of a
Security Council Resolution...; Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan in
1988-89 under a plan negotiated by the Secretary-General; Namibian
independence was achieved in March 1990 on the basis of a 1978 UN
resolution; Cuban forces began staged withdrawal from Angola in 1989;
and UN peace-keeping and good offices were employed with growing effect
in Central America.”

However today, the end of the Cold War is only the visible part of an
iceberg. In less than a decade, the world has undergone such significant
changes as a result of globalization and technological innovations in the field of
information technology, that one can genuinely talk about a change in our
civilizational paradigm. This affects relations between States and between
human beings. New threats to security are appearing, in the economic or
environmental sphere for example, and they tend to be transnational in
essence. The existence of global networks of “uncivil society”, including
terrorists, drug and arms traffickers, money laundering criminals and other
such unruly outlaws poses new challenges to security. As a result, the United
Nations original strategy for the promotion of peace, stability and well-being is
being revived and even further enlarged.

The United Nations is now operating under a new concept of security.
Throughout the Charter, these words are consistently linked and treated as

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